This is very site specific. Is there room for a compromise? e.g. a smaller menu with a more button? Main sections shown, subsections in a slide in side panel?

IMO using desktop thinking on a mobile site is a mistake. Visitors expect a mobile site to look like a mobile site, using mobile style navigation.

Two questions

1. When someone hits any of your pages, what is the action you want them to take?

2. Imagine you are the visitor. What is the action the visitor wants to take?

Solution
If the answer to either of those two questions is "peck on a menu like a pigeon on bread" then you are good as gold.

If not then reconfigure the page in order to make it easy for the site visitor to take the desired action.

This strategy isn't just about menu, either. It encompasses the entire approach of web page layout, site architecture and even the content. Make sense?

Good luck,

;)

Roger Montti

Thank you for the responses.

Martinibuster, I guess I was wanting them to scroll down but absorb what was in the menu as they go. But then I am not a frequent user of a smartphone and that is why I needed other peoples opinions.

Thanks again

Speaking as a user: If I had not seen repeated discussions on this forum about "hamburger menus", I would not know what they are, and might never click on one except by accident--especially since the icon is almost identical to "Reader View". (I met a desktop site the other day that had Site Search hidden in the hamburger menu. Are they trying to make it harder to find things?) Who is your target audience?

I know what you mean Lucy.

I would probably replace the hamburger with the word "Menu" - a novel idea don't you think!

I would probably replace the hamburger with the word "Menu" - a novel idea don't you think!

Mobile users look for the hamburger. That's the standard. Any time you use objects other than what everyone is accustomed to, no matter how novel you think it is, you will confuse a percentage of your site visitor & potential customers.

If the hamburger doesn't really do it for you personally however, you can use both. Follow the link in my profile using mobile & you'll see I use both; "menu" on the left & the hamburger on the right. I did this for symmetry (and people like you.)

Some people put word "menu" inside the hamburger icon (instead of the cheese). ;)

I'd say that the use of the hamburger alone is not yet fully accepted, particularly on desktop, and there really isn't standardization when it is used. For me, if it is your only menu, you are unnaturally funneling user and possibly search engine attention through a very narrow channel, and effectively limiting user expectations. It's also called the hamburger button.

The best discussion we've had here was started by ergophobe in Supporters (paid membership required), who brought a lot of research to the topic before he posted...

Using collapsed (mobile, "hamburger") menu on desktop site
Oct 2015
https://www.webmasterworld.com/supporters/4771422.htm [webmasterworld.com]

While our general rule is that what's said in Supporters stays in Supporters, I think I can safely say that of all menu combinations and variations of labeling cited in various studies, the menu arrangement that tested the worst was the hamburger alone.

Much to be said about demographics and how statistics regarding mobile are skewed by differences in mobile and desktop usage.

I only use the burger button on mobile phones & small tablets. Desktop & large tablets get a standard hover-drop-down.

Thank you for your input Robert.
I certainly wouldnt use the hanburger alone on desktop and do not see the need for it. On desktop I will continue to use my present, non collapsing munu, which is partly dynamically populated according to the page being viewed.

I guess that, of those regularly using a smartphone (poss lower age range), most will be ok with the hamburger, and I have come across some interesting burger animations.

My market is more mid-centurian and the hamburger menu is almost invisible to them. If i was targeting youngsters i would use the hamburger.

Two articles that might be helpful. The second is a reworking of the first, but I'd look at both, as well as check out the tests cited in the the lmjabreu article. Both articles are several years old, and so we can assume that more familiarity has developed with the hamburger icon. That said, the underlying problems of discoverability remain, and these articles are not alone.

Why and How to Avoid Hamburger Menus
May 14, 2014 - by lmjabreu
[lmjabreu.com...]

We now have data that suggests Sidebar menus—sometimes called Hamburger Menus/Basements - might be causing more harm than good....

The Problems
1. Lower Discoverability
2. Less Efficient
3. Clash with Platform Navigation Patterns
4. Not Glanceable

"what's out of sight, is out of mind."

And...

Kill The Hamburger Button
May 24, 2014
[techcrunch.com...]

...Whether you call it a side menu, navigation drawer, or a hamburger, hiding your features off-screen behind a nondescript icon in the corner is usually a poor mobile design choice. Interaction theory, A/B tests, and the evolution of some of the top apps in the world all support the same thesis: The hamburger button is bad for engagement, and you should probably replace it with a tab bar or other navigation scheme.

I believe those articles reflect opinions prior to the hamburger button becoming standard. With the proliferation of mobile sites & mobile apps which use the hamburger button, attitudes have significantly changed in today's mobile world.

To some extent, I agree, though you never know whether the hamburger is going to be used for utility links, for content, or just for what's left over.

It also doesn't fix the issue of discoverability, which gets cited as a common UX problem, quite apart from discussions of the hamburger menu.

Sure, popular acceptance always is a delayed effect but when all the big boys (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc) use it, users come to recognize it as standard.

That's not to say that its varied usage hasn't caused some ambiguity but isn't that somewhat true with any other navigation?

Just to give an update-
I implimented this using javascript to hide the menu initially on small screens and also to show the menu on clicking the button. I used the words "Show Main Menu" together with the hamberger icon (though the html code for the hamburger doesnt work on all browsers). I am pleased with the appearance.

It looks as though my bounce rate has increased very slightly - possibly due to visitors only viewing one page instead of immediately hitting the menu, so perhaps not really a negative, Similarly pages/visit are down very slightly though time on site is about the same.

though time on site is about the same.

So long as you can be sure the extra time wasn't spent trying and failing to find the navigation ...